our first american girl doll

i always loved getting american girl catalogs when i was younger. i loved reading all about their back story and seeing all of the many (many) accessories. i was a little beyond dolls when i started getting the catalogs and even then knew that the prices were a little crazy and unobtainable for me. it is nothing against american girl dolls themselves, but i don't really care for anything used as a 'status' object. i have learned that girls can be cruel to those who don't have an american girl doll. madelyn has already been told that she needs to have one by peers at school. 

so i told her that we could sign up for the catalog and take a look since she was interested in having one. a few weeks later we welcomed our first catalog (actually we had been given one the week before just by chance). madelyn and i looked through it and talked about how much they cost and what could be purchased for the same price (like 4 or 5 of the lego sets she wants). we also talked about how she has no interest in playing with the many, many dolls she already has (which she agreed with) and how it made her feel when the other girls said she had to have one. in the end, we agreed that madelyn would save her own money to purchase one. i agreed to help provide her with more opportunities to earn money around the house. i also told her that the library offered american girl dolls to check out. this was quite exciting news! we searched together and got her on the request lists for two of her favorites (kit and isabella). 

after several weeks, today was the day. kit (her most favorite) was available and waiting for her at the library. there are special rules for the dolls and i wanted her to come with us and hear the rules first hand so we waited until she was home from school.

madelyn is super excited to have kit at home for the next week. she has also decided that she no longer wants her own. it is more fun to check them out from the library so that she can have several different ones and she plans on saving her money to buy gifts for other people - namely, her brothers (she made a formal announcement of this decision to both matt and me). i don't think that the doll is as fun as she had expected. she has spent more time reading the catalog than holding the doll.

i am so thankful that she had this opportunity from the library before saving and spending so much money. (she is too!) love.